The Ninja Nutcracker
by EternityBlackRose
Summary: Asuka Connell is a sixteen year-old girl who's just received a strange ninja nutcracker for Christmas, along with a strange dragon pendant. That night she's dragged into the world of Ninjago-which is under the horrible rule of the Snake King Pythor. Now she must help her nutcracker save this kingdom by destroying him. Easy right?
1. Let Me Tell You a Story

Once long ago, in the city of Magnolia, there lived a young girl named Asuka Connell. She and her brother Bizack were living with their grandfather Makarov Dreyar since their parents died when they were young.

Asuka was sixteen with so dark green of hair it almost seemed black, and her eyes were a shining purple. Bizack was ten with light green hair and black eyes. Both were staring out the window, waiting for their guests to arrive to the party.

"Children." A voice called from across the room. "Come away from the window. They'll get here when they get here."

Both turned to their grandfather-who was much shorter than the both of them. Asuka tugged at her floor-length green dress. She hated dressing up, but this was a Christmas party after all. So she had to wear it. Her brother didn't look very comfortable in his suit either.

"But Laxus and Mira should've been here by now." Bizack whined, sliding to the floor.

"That's enough." The old man chided. "Your cousin and godmother will be here soon."

"Sooner than you think old man."

All turned to the doorway of the library. There stood a twenty-three year-old man with blonde hair and gray eyes and a nineteen year-old woman with long white hair and blue eyes.

"Laxus!" Bizack exclaimed, running over to the man.

Laxus scooped up the young boy. He'd been close with his cousins since they were all raised by their grandfather. It also helped that they were also children his wife Mira Jane used to babysit. "How's it goin' half-pint?"

"Pretty good." He looked at Mira. "Did you bring us presents?"

"Bizack…" Asuka sighed, going over to her godmother for a hug.

Mira laughed lightly, encasing the girl in a hug. "It's all right. We have been gone for so long on our honeymoon. I think you're both entitled to one gift tonight."

"Weren't you going to bring a few guests to our party?" Makarov asked as Mira handed the children their gifts.

"The snowstorm outside delayed 'em." Laxus explained shrugging out of his coat. "They'll be here in the morning."

"Whoa neat!"

The adults looked down at the boy to see him holding quite a few toy soldiers in his hands. "These are so cool!"

"We got those in Russia. You better take care of 'em."

"Believe me I will."

"Open yours Asuka." Mira said, taking a seat by the fire.

Asuka sat on the floor by Mira's chair, looking at the box. She pulled the ribbon free, and opened the box. Inside, on top of a bunch of tissue paper, was a green amulet in the shape of an emperor dragon head.

"Mira it's beautiful." Asuka said picking it up.

The white-haired woman smiled. "I hoped you'd like it. But there's more in the box."

"Why does she get more?" Bizack asked.

"Watch it kid." Laxus warned. "In reality, you got more."

Bizack pouted.

Asuka pulled the tissue paper away to reveal a wooden male blonde hair and bright green eyes. He was done up in a green ninja gi complete with a mask that covered his mouth, and a pair of golden katanas strapped to his back.

"Oh Mira…" she said in awe, picking him up gently. "He's wonderful."

Mira Jane smiled. "I knew you'd like him. He's a bit different from any nutcracker I've ever seen, but…different in a good way." she put a hand on the girl's shoulder.

"Let me see him!" Bizack exclaimed pulling at the toy.

"No way!"

The adults watched as Asuka struggled to keep her new toy away from her brother, who was pulling on his arm quite hard.

Then they heard a snap.

"Bizack!"

The ten year-old released his grip at the sound of his grandfather's voice.

"You know better than to do that sort of thing! Now come," the old man said, grabbing the boy by the arm. "You're going to bed early!"

"But Gramps-"

"Don't 'But Gramps' me young man! Upstairs! Now!"

As the men escorted the boy upstairs, Asuka held her nutcracker close. It wasn't fair that her brother broke everything she got. Why couldn't she just have something that he didn't ruin?

"It's okay." She said, tearing a bit of her dress off for a makeshift-sling. "I'll keep you from him."

"I knew you'd keep him safe" Mira said, putting a hand on the girl's shoulder. "I hope you find someone like him."

Asuka blushed. This wasn't the first time Mira Jane has tried to get her to talk about a boy. But she'd never been one for romance. The only boys she'd ever talked to were boys that'd she'd been friends with a long time ago. But they moved away before they all started school.

"That's enough Mir," Laxus chided, giving the girl her space. "You can play matchmaker with Asuka when she's older. Maybe next year even."

But what no one suspected, was Mira was already playing her matchmaking game.

* * *

Asuka came down a little later in a pair of black boy shorts, a green sports jersey, her green army cap, a pair of black fingerless gloves, and a pair of black suede boots. This was her normal attire since she hated all the frills. But when her grandfather insisted…

"Well you look better." Mira stated from her seat, handing the girl her nutcracker.

"Yeah." Asuka replied, sitting on the floor again. "I never really was one for dresses."

"That's true." Mira turned serious. "Shall I tell you a story?"

"Sure."

Mira got situated. "This is the story behind your amulet. As before I found it, it belonged to a royal family."

"Oh come on Mira, it did not."

"Oh believe me it did." She stared into the flames. "The kingdom was called Ninjago-a land ruled by the elements Fire, Ice, Lightening, Earth, Water, Metal, Light, Speed, Smoke, Mind, Gravity, Nature, Sound, Poison, Shadow, Form, Amber and Energy. Very few could wield these elements, and those of Energy were extremely rare. So they were treated as the royal family."

Asuka sat up, becoming interested in this story.

"The kingdom was ruled by a wise and just man for many years. He had two children. A son, and a daughter. Their mother had died in giving birth to the girl."

The sixteen year-old looked into the flames, almost making out a pair of children playing and laughing.

"But then their father died, leaving them all alone."

The scene turned somber. The children now stood side by side at a grave, clutching each other's hands tightly as a dark figure stood behind them.

"No one knew how he died, but it was believed the king died peacefully. To protect his sister though, the brother gave his sister the royal pendant to protect her until he could find someone stronger than him to protect her."

Her amulet came into sight.

"The years rolled by quickly after that. By the prince was eighteen and the princess sixteen, the princess had many admirers, but only one had claimed victory; The Master of Earth. It seemed like there would be happiness in Ninjago once more."

The scene shifted. The pair were older now, and another man was with them. The man and the princess were a laughing together while her brother watched from a distance, smiling at his sister's happiness.

"But then, everything spiraled."

A pair of glowing red eyes overtook the scene.

"The old king's advisor-a serpentine snake called Pythor-wanted the princess and the crown for himself. So he cast a spell on the couple; driving them apart forever."

The princess and her lover were swept up into a tornado and pulled apart.

"You've told me about the Serpentine before Mira Jane." Asuka stated, looking back at her godmother. "But I didn't know one was that powerful."

"Well this one was." Mira Jane sadly replied. "His servant-the Master of Wind,-was the one who drove them apart though."

Asuka looked into the flames again to see a young man controlling the whirlwind.

"The Master of Earth was cursed into a monstrous form and had his memory of his beloved taken from him; making it easy for Pythor to control him."

She watched while the man from before changed into a creature of great ferocity. Any humanity he ever had was gone.

"While the princess was forced into a deep sleep; only to awaken when either her will was weak, or her beloved returned to her.

The princess's eyes were forced shut and her body went limp.

"The prince was furious. He demanded that the advisor return them both to the way they were."

The prince and Pythor stared at each other, then drew their blades.

"Pythor refused."

The swords clashed as the flames rose high.

"No one knows how long the battle lasted. It could've been hours to days to weeks. All anyone knows for sure…is that when the battle ended, the prince was gone."

The flames of the battle lowered, revealing the snake as the winner.

"Pythor was named the Snake King and renamed Ninjago Ouroboros; the name of the long lost city the Serpentine populated many centuries ago. The people suffered."

The screams of many people rang in her ears.

"But what about the amulet?" Asuka asked, finally turning away from the fire for good. "It should've protected the princess right?"

Mira nodded. "You're right it should have. But the princess tossed it off. Whatever happened to her lover, she wanted it to happen to her as well."

"How loyal." Asuka looked down at the trinket. "Do you think it has any powers now?"

"I'm not sure." Mira Jane replied, getting up from her seat. "But what I do know, is that it's late, and we should get to bed."

"Oh all right." Asuka sighed getting up. "Just let me put my nutcracker away in the cabinet."

As the woman nodded, the teenager wandered over to the glass cabinet where she and her brother kept her toys. From soldiers to dolls. Her two favorites were a soccer doll she called Kyna, and a snowboarder named Soula.

"Well girls," she said, opening the cabinet. "Looks like you're having company tonight." She lifted the nutcracker onto the shelf her toys were on. "Good night."

Just before she closed the cabinet, she swore she'd seen her nutcracker wink. Then she shook her head of that notion.

"Ya know, I think you know more about that story than Mira does." She uttered, looking the toy in the eye. "Who knows? Maybe one day you'll tell me."


	2. Tell Me I'm Dreaming

Asuka was still awake fifteen minutes to midnight.

It wasn't that she didn't try. She really had. But every time she closed her eyes, the prince's battle with that serpentine came to mind.

She sat up and looked at the pendant around her neck. If the princess was so important to the prince, why didn't it protect her?

 _Asuka…_

She looked towards the door curiously. She thought she'd heard something coming from the hall. But that couldn't be right. Everyone was in bed.

 _Asuka-chan…_

Then again…

She tossed off the sheets, grabbed her army cap, slipped on her boots, and made her way out of the room.

A strange gray light was coming from downstairs, almost as if it was calling to her. Slowly, she began her descent; as if not waking everyone was the most important thing at the moment.

The voice got louder with every step. And were soon joined by others.

 _I just don't think it's safe to go off alone._

 _Your brother worries for all the right reasons._

 _You belong to me!_

 _Stay away from her!_

 _Forgive me brother…_

The last voice had been the one to call her down from her room. It was feminine, and weak.

And it was coming from the library.

She peaked through the keyhole. Nothing looked different so far.

She opened the door. Still nothing.

But it was the moment she stepped in that changed everything.

Her pendant started to glow; the room itself felt…alive for some reason. Like everything was beginning to feel…the only way she could describe it was energized.

As she made her way to her toy cabinet, she noticed that something seemed to be going on inside. Something…magical.

It was her dolls; they were all gathered around a certain area.

The same place she'd left her nutcracker.

* * *

His head pounded as he came into consciousness. It hurt to even move. Where was he?

And for that matter, WHO was he?

"Hey, is he okay?"

"Be quiet. Asuka's coming closer."

"It won't matter in a minute with him moving as much as he is."

"Jay, for once in your doll-like life shut up."

"I'm not a doll! I'm an action figure!"

That's when he opened his eyes.

In front of where he sat was a red-headed girl with reddish brown eyes wearing a red and pink soccer uniform with the number sixteen on the back doing a stare off with what seemed to be a brunette male with electric blue eyes wearing a blue samurai suit.

"All right you two enough." A voice said behind him. "It's bad enough we're gonna be spotted, she doesn't need to see you fighting."

The voice that spoke revealed herself to be a white-haired girl with green eyes with flecks of red in them. She wore a gray and dirty white snow suit with black goggles on her forehead.

"You okay?" she asked, helping him stand up.

"Been better, I think." He stated, wobbling on his feet. "Just a few questions. Who are you all? Where am I? And for the record, WHO am I?"

"You mean you don't remember?" The soccer player asked, tightening her ponytail.

"Should I?"

"Well no, but you should at least remember your name."

"Then sorry, I don't."

"Well great." The samurai the red-head called Jay. "Just great. Our savior doesn't know who he is, our leader's trapped in the body of a monster, our princess is trapped in some coma-like sleep, and we're toys! Can anything else go wrong?!"

"Well you could blow our cover." The red-head stated sarcastically. "Oops, too late."

The four toys turned to see a dark greenette stare at them with wide amethyst-colored eyes.

Jay chuckled nervously and waved. "Umm…Hi?"

Asuka stared at them, then immediately began pacing the room.

"This is not happening." She told herself, walking back and forth in front of the cabinet. "Toys don't come to life; they don't move on their own."

"Would it help if we said we're not really toys?" Jay asked.

"We're not?" the nutcracker asked confused. "But we look like toys."

The white haired girl stepped forward. "We are toys now, but before we were human. Back in Ninjago."

That stopped Asuka in her tracks. "Ninjago? As in the kingdom that that Pythor fellow took over?"

"You've heard of it?" Jay asked.

"Well…yeah." Asuka said, picking the toys off the shelf and setting them onto the nearby table. "Mirajane just told me about it. It sounds like a wonderful place."

"It was. Believe me." The soccer player stated, sitting on the edge. "Ninjago was a great place to live, but that all changed when Pythor took over."

"He wanted the other Masters to join him." Jay stated. "A lot of us wouldn't do it. So…he made examples out of us."

"And we would've been burned and melted if it weren't for the SheDemon."

"The SheDemon? You mean Mira?"

"Not sure. We never got a good look at her."

"But she did tell us that a nutcracker would be our savior." The red-head said. "Though, lookin' at this guy, I'd say we're dead."

"Kyna…" the white-haired girl warned.

"Well look at him. He can barely move that arm the boy broke off, let alone fight with it. Heck, he probably doesn't remember how to-" then she noticed Asuka's necklace. "Where'd you get that?"

"What this?" she asked, lifting it up. "Mira gave it to me. Was it really the princess's?"

"…Yeah. Yeah it was." Kyna walked away from the others.

"What's with her?" the nutcracker asked.

"The princess was one of our closest friends." The white-haired girl said, untying his arm to test if it was healed. "When she was put into the coma, we both stood against Pythor immediately. But we didn't count on the Master of Wind whirling us up and the snake turning us into toys." She shifted the arm a bit. "It looks healed, but don't put too much strain on it okay?"

"Uhh…sure…"

"Oh, how rude of me." She bowed her head a bit. "My name is Soula Evans. I'm the Master of Dark Ice. The fellow in the samurai suit is Jay Walker, the Master of Lightening. And the red-head pouting is Kyna Sohma, the Master of Dark Fire."

"Dark Ice? Dark Fire?" Asuka asked confused. "I thought there was only regular Ice and regular Fire."

"There is. We're just the darker portion of them."

"Huh." The greenette said as she gently picked up the nutcracker. "You'll need a name too until you can remember yours." She thought for a second. "How about…Lloyd?"

The nutcracker thought for a bit. That name sounded familiar to him, but it didn't sound like it was his name. Still, it beated being called 'Nutcracker.'

"Lloyd huh? Sure. Why not?"

Asuka smiled and set him down. "Well that's one thing settled, onto the next. How are we going to get to Ninjago? Or is it Oroborus now?"

"Wait wait hold on a sec." Kyna said coming back over. I get that we gotta get back. But you? You're just a mortal; our toyselves owner. You can't go there."

"And who says I can't?" Asuka asked, starting to get angry. "I'm a part of this now. Something brought me down here tonight, and I think it was for this reason."

"What do you mean 'brought you down here?'" Jay asked curiously, adjusting his helmet. "You came down here on your own."

"But there was this great gray-colored light and a voice that led me down here. She called my name and-"

"Did you see her face?" Soula asked.

"No. I could only hear her, never see her."

 _Go through the mouse hole._

The voice made them all jump.

"Where's it coming from?" Jay asked looking around.

"I'm takin' a wild guess here, but it's probably coming from the pendant." Kyna said, dumping Jay from her arms.

 _Go through the mouse hole. Find the resistance. They can help you free the princess's lover. Once you have him back, all will be made clear._

"But how do I get through?" Asuka asked. "And how do I get back?"

 _The last matter will be told at the end of your journey. As for going with them, all you need to do, is grab the pendant, and visualize yourself at their height. Hurry please. Ninjago doesn't have much time before it is completely consumed by darkness._

"Who are you?" Lloyd asked as his head pounded. That voice sounded so familiar.

 _You shall know in due time. Now go._

The pendant's glow died down.

"Well, you heard the lady," Asuka said, setting the toys on the floor. "We'd better hurry. Where's the mouse hole?"

"Under the toy cabinet." Soula stated. "So if you want to join us, you better start thinking you're our size."

Asuka looked around the room. This may be the last time she ever say it; or her family. But she felt that she had to go with them. If not for their sake, then for her own piece of mind.

She closed her eyes and visualized herself just a smidge taller than Kyna, but still shorter than Jay or Lloyd. When she opened them again, she was where she thought she'd be.

"Nice." Jay said, walking towards the hole. Well, let's go. We've got a resistance waiting."

* * *

He felt like he was forgetting something. Something important. Something that made him who he was.

 _I just don't see why he has to worry so much. I mean I'm sixteen, most girls my age are already dating._

He looked at his reflection in the water nearby.

 _Your brother worries that something will try to hurt you; that one day you won't be able to save yourself._

He didn't look like this before did he? No, that couldn't be right.

 _That one day someone will make you into a monster._


End file.
